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Chicago Hauntings Ghost Tour
Categories: Hotels & Travel Tours Local Flavour Tours, Local Flavour [Edit]
610 N Clark St.(between Ohio St & Ontario St)
Chicago, IL 60610
Neighbourhoods: Near North Side, River North
(888) 446-7891
- Nearest Transit:
-
Grand-red (Red Line)
Merchandise Mart (Brown Line, Purple Line)
Chicago-red (Red Line)
- Good for Kids:
- No
63 reviews for Chicago Hauntings Ghost Tour
63 reviews in English
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Review from Sara G.
Carpentersville, IL
4/6/2012
We took this tour on Sunday April 1st 7pm. I was me, my boyfriend, my mom, my 2 teen nephews and my tween niece. I didn't read any reviews about this tour, it was suggested to me by a co-worker that had tried it out and thought it was good. As we were sitting on the coach bus waiting to leave I started checking out the reviews and what I was reading didn't sound good, so I thought great well this is going to suck. I guess you can't always trust reviews because we all enjoyed this tour very much. We got to go to parts of the city we had never seen, we got to hear a lot of history and to be honest it was pretty creepy in some parts. I wasn't expecting to have ghosts pass by me at any point but just to hear the stories of some of these haunted places was haunting enough.
Our tour guide was Tommy and he was very good, he really gave you a lot of background to what happened in each spot to make them a haunted place. You do get to get off the bus at various locations to check out the area and take pictures, which I thought was neat. Surprisingly my nephews and niece enjoyed the tour very much, and we all know how hard it is to please teenagers. So, if you're into history and haunted places I would highly suggest this tour. We even got some questionable things on camera that I'll have to send to them to check out. -
Review from Joseph L.
Chicago, IL
3/28/2012
Ok getting a little scared. I need a young priest and an old priest.
The power of Christ compels you. The Power of Christ compels you!!!!
The only ghosts I've ever seen are ones on black and white tv sets with the rabbit ears. I once had a jar of pickles fall on my head. When I was 10, I could half get away with believing in ghosts, that is, until I realized I was just a klutz.
So the story teller did his best to spook things up with tales of macabre, and I did my best to suspend my disbelief, but generally I don't spook easily. The bug room, the monkey brains in the Indiana Jones movie and my old high school band director, why that's a whole horse of a different color but I digress...The stops along the way were refreshing. I did learn a little about the city history. -
Review from Ms Beachy B.
Chicago, IL
2/26/2012
We got a Groupon for this tour. I think the price was right (I think $26 for 2 people) for a 2 hour tour. I do nto think I would pay full price (double that). I was disappointed to see a 20+ year old short black school bus as our ride. There were diesel fumes that we had to inhale - now I know why every other window was cracked open before anyone got on the bus.
However, the tour was interesting. The tour guide was interesting. I love hearing about Chicago history and I am into all things ghosts, so this was a good combo. I wish we would not have stopped at all to get out since the stops were boring and it was freezing out. I think we stopped at 5 locations and I would have preferred to hear the story of that spot and continued on without wasting time at the location. Maybe 2 stops to walk around would have been enough since it was only a 2 hour tour.
I am glad we went. We didn't see any ghosts :-(. Price was good using a Groupon - don't think I'd pay full price for this tour. -
Review from A S.
Chicago, IL
4/10/2012
I coordinated a tour for 5 of us using the Groupon that we purchased and we all went on the tour this past Friday, April 6th. Adam Selzer was our tour guide and I can't say enough wonderful things about him!
The check-in process went off without a hitch, and we departed on time and even got back to the McDonalds on time as well. Our bus driver, Wendy (?) was awesome and we all felt safe with her driving us around. Reminder - tip your driver!
First, Adam's method of telling the stories of things "that go bump in the night" was nothing short of awesome. His story telling skills combined with a goofy sense of humor had all 5 of us chuckling and cheering him on. And his sense of humor to mess with people on the street was fantasically hysterical. Even when a Chicago cop asked what we were doing at one point when we were stopped, Adam handled that situation with humor and professionalism.
We stopped at several fantastic locations, and heard the stories about each location. We also got the chance to get off the bus and walk about and take pictures, and Adam even suggested how we take photos as well to ensure the best quality.
Being a lifelong Chicagoan, I learned so much about this city that I never knew existed, and seriously had the BEST time ever on this tour.
We are already talking about when we can go on another tour..that's how much fun we had. Thanks for a fantastic time..see you in the very near future! -
Review from Moonbeam B.
Chicago, IL
4/17/2012
Okay. Lets just say that my 2nd floor apartment in Ukranian Village provides more of a haunting tour than this dumpy ride, so come on over! I had gone on the Weird Chicago Serial Killer tour with my dad and it was actually pretty entertaining and interesting full of Chicago facts, so I was excited for this tour. My personal experiences (or posible psychosis?) were part of the reason I went on this tour was to scratch my ghostly itch and connect with a ghooley booley. Maybe, just maybe, connect spiritually with a funky flaming Chicago tour guide - What a ghostly failure of epic proportions. And also it needs to be said that I fell asleep on the bus, twice. Like drooling sleep. What an exhilarating friday night. Maybe I am a tough sell because of my Chicago native-ness and my parents could have given a more thorough Chicago hauntings tour after four bottles of wine, but this was a friggen joke. They had us standing in alleys and in front of the Jane Adams school of social work - I went inside to pee and grab a Mt.Dew - BOO! took a crap ton of pictures and the trick to scaring yourself is use a very cheap camera with slow speed and take pictures at night, facing pure darkness and you will catch water mist which look like Orbs. At least you can convince yourself and your facebook friends you had a ghoolish good time. The tour guide man was lame and it pains me to put down someone who clearly dreams of being an actor or depressed poet, but, in my opinion, they should probably grab a scum bag off the Fullerton exit and give em' a job because this tour needs something Scary! I
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Review from Kristin C.
Chicago, IL
10/28/2011
I love ghosts and scary shizz so I was pumped to take this tour. However, I found it lackluster at best. It wasn't scary. We were on a big charter bus - in the back next to an overflowing toilet. The best part was jumping out to grab some booze . . or maybe when it ended. Toss up.
I will give props to the guide - he was into it even if he didn't successfully engage me. He was also well-informed and had a few good stories. . a few.
There are other ghost tours in the city (like the one that stops at Flounders?!?! Muhahaha) and I do not recommend this one. -
Review from David F.
Downers Grove, IL
4/13/2012
I'd like to give it a review but unfortunately they stopped honoring the groupon before it expired. It's kind of irritating, doesn't seem like good business to me.
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Review from Rob R.
Chicago, IL
7/5/2011
I had first heard of Ursula Bielski years ago when I worked at Navy Pier, and I would see her books in the bookstore there. I was beginning my own little education into both Chicago and Illinois histories, and the paranormal. How exciting it was to finally meet her about a year ago!
For me, these tours are flexible enough to be what you want of them. If you don't believe and just want a spooky afternoon or evening out, this will be a delight! If you like the history of Chicago, this will also be up your alley. For me, I get the double-whammy of the historical aspects, and the definite paranormal aspects!
I have taken the 7 hour tours around town, and have loved the historical background to the neighborhoods. I have also experiences the actual energies present at many of the locations, as have my friends who have joined me. I have been gaining experience in paranormal investigations, and have had, for many years, my own experiences in channeling and energy work. The locations I have been taken to during Chicago Hauntings tours have provided experience in the energies present therein. So this part of the reason I go is satisfied as well.
Let's not forget the beauty of the places we go as well, whether they be outdoors or fantastic historical buildings, they are gorgeous.
So far, all the tour guides are good and well informed....but I have to admit my favorite is Ursula. She provides loads of information about the city, and the lore....and adds just enough of her own experiences to make it a little more intriguing! And then, in between, she allows time for the guests to chat amongst themselves about the stories they are hearing, their own experiences, and the lore they have been told.
I love the variety of tours that Chicago has to offer visitors, providing architecture and history information. But this particular focus, I like sticking with groups like this...and it's great for both visitors to Chicago and residents like me.
Treat yourself to some time with these folks....and take away from it what you will. But you will have a good time! Very affordable as well. -
Review from Erin G.
Chicago, IL
1/15/2012
I took my boyfriend on the tour for his birthday, bought the Groupon. We had a really fun time hearing about all the details of some of Chicago greatest tragedies. all of the personal touches of other tours having weird experiences makes it fun too. I highly recommend going on this tour, we loved the aspect of being able to get out and take photos.
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Review from Deana F.
Columbus, OH
1/26/2012
We had 8 people on the ghost tour on a very cold January night - and Doug did a FANTASTIC job -- he is engaging, funny and a great story teller! We especially liked acting out the Valentine's Day massacre!!
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Review from Dave S.
4/13/2011 1 Check-in Here
I would like to start out by saying that I do not believe in ghosts. I am a firm believer in science. Even with my logical mind, I was still very intrigued about this tour and I am very glad that I went.
First off, this is not a tour where people jump out and scare you. It is not like that at all. You jump on the bus in the River North area and tour the near north, loop and south loop areas.
The tour is historically based. At each stop the tour guide gives you the historical background of the site. I am not going to disclose any of these sites as it would spoil some of the surprise. Once they explain the historical significance, they inform you of some of the reported supernatural occurrences at the site. After putting this strong suggestion into one's head they allow you to walk around the site for a while and let you imagination run free.
Our tour guide was awesome. He REALLY knew his stuff which made this phenomenal tour all that much better. I would highly recommend this tour for a fun, interesting and educational night out. -
Review from Melanie S.
Chicago, IL
8/23/2010 1 Check-in Here
I love ghost stories and I love Chicago, so I had high hopes for the Chicago Hauntings Ghost Tour.
I purchased a Groupon as well as everyone else that was on the tour, and set sail on a Sunday evening. I specifically chose Sunday because I figured there would be less traffic and thus, they'd be able to pack more in the tour.
To be honest, it was kind of boring. The tour guide did little to get the group enthused and at times was downright condescending and mocked people that we encountered along the way. It made people uncomfortable.
We ventured out and saw the following supposed haunted sites:
-site of the Eastland disaster
-Iroquois Theater fire
-site of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre
-bridge where Resurrection Mary was killed
There were a few other places but I can't really recall because they were not memorable.
At almost every stop, we were told to get off the bus so we could take pictures, as well as "experience the ghostly energy" around us. I thought that a 10 minute stop each time was overkill and just dragged out the tour. I would have preferred less stopping time and more sites/sights to see.
The tour was ok. I'm glad I didn't give up a Friday or Saturday night to go on this excursion, and even happier that I didn't pay full price.
Given the number of ghost stories Chicago is known for, I think the tour could have been better. We were the only locals on the tour and I will say that the out of towners seemed to enjoy it, so maybe this tour would appeal more to tourists than locals.Listed in: My Little Town, Recessionista
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Review from Carrie H.
Chicago, IL
1/12/2012
We took the 7-hour ghost hunt on 1/7 with Ursula and had a great experience! With the longer time frame, we were able to leave the city on a bus and visit spooky locations in the suburbs that aren't your typical downtown haunted locations. Ursula was informative and a great storyteller! You can tell she really knows her stuff and she was key to this tour being so great. The Jan. tour was also nice because it gets dark early enough that your last stop is at night, not in the daytime (extra creepy).
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Review from Asper K.
Chicago, IL
9/29/2011
Most of the ghosts seemed pretty cool. I have to deduct 2 stars for one ghost that was kinda of a dck though. Was very condescending and an ego maniac if you ask me. Not to mention he doesn't even pay rent
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Review from matty z.
7/24/2010
Another Groupon here.
Simply put: our tour guide was awful.
He was rude, as well. He made sure to shush my friend multiple times, at one point stopping his presentation (or whatever it was) to ask her if he could go on, because he apparently thought she was talking.
She was not, I assure you. She was sitting there waiting for him to begin. Additionally, he made fun of Catholics, called my girlfriends "honey", and during the tour let out this fun anecdote:
"If you could get a decent job, why would you dig up bodies [as a cemetery worker]?"
Well, hope no one on the bus had folks in the funeral business.
The guide filled his talk with lots of useless details, like letting us know that 25,000,000 years ago Chicago was a swamp land and we had foot long dragonflies.
Really? This is part of the ghost tour?
All that aside, here's why the tour really fails:
1. The guide truly thinks people are there to do research or collect facts, as opposed to being entertained. Dude... we're not there cause you're a professor. We're here to get scared, hear cool stories, and have FUN.
2. The guide fails to set any sort of ambiance.
#2 is the kicker. No atmosphere is set in what should be, frankly, a performance. Thrill us! Make us scared! Get folks into the stories you're telling!
Boring. Would definitely not go back. -
Review from Lynn K.
Chicago, IL
4/19/2010
My boyfriend often accuses me of getting overly excited about things, only to be disappointed when they can't live up to my lofty expectations. Chicago Ghost Tour, congratulations on being my most recent letdown.
Yelp Star detracting moment #1:
-I emailed "Ursula" 3 weeks prior to the 4/17 date. Since I had purchased a Groupon, I had a feeling that they were going to be flooded with requests. After several pestering e-mails, I was FINALLY confirmed at 3pm Friday April 16th for the tour because "9,000 people had contacted him to go on the tour this weekend". Seems a little exaggerated, but okay, still excited to Ghost Tour it up.
Yelp Star Detracting Moment #2:
Location, location, location. The first two stops were the Oriental Theater and Wacker Driver along the river. Seriously? Despite the guide's best efforts to create a spooky ambiance, this fell flat: 1. I work mere blocks from these places 2. There are people walking through these "haunted areas" enjoying their Saturday night. Granted, not the tour's fault, but you think they'd pick places a little off the beaten path.
Yelp Star Detracting Moment #3:
At every place we went to, people have captured photographic evidence of apparitions, shadows, and unexplainable phenomenon. Where are these pictures?! Just like another Yelper brought up, I'm sure I'd get a little more freaked out by visiting Hull House if there was a picture of a devil baby looking demonically out of the window. Our guide said that with the paranormal, you can't just "scoop it up in a jar and say: here's your evidence". Well yeah, but you can go to Walgreens and make reprints.
The rest of the trip was spent driving on Lake Shore drive as we listened to another boring narration of what I'm sure was meant to be terrifying Chicago History. Did I mention we saw the haunted spot where the Valentine's Day Massacre occured? Yeah, it was an empty lot in between two buildings on Clark in LP. After that horrifying moment, I knew there was no sleep for me that night! (Maybe I'll get haunted for the simple fact that I'm so sarcastic).
The tour did get unintentional comedy points from the eager-believers on the bus. Especially the girl who clamored back on the bus and declared "ALL OF MY CELL PHONE PICTURES HAVE BEEN DELETED!" citing a otherworldly beings as the culprit, only to say a few minutes later "Oh, there they are." I'm sure the ghost of Verizon Past magically restored them for your faith in the afterlife.
Of course I wasn't expecting to experience a haunting firsthand, but I did want to be a little scared and maybe visit places that aren't on the Chicago Double-Decker Tour Bus list of scheduled stops. -
Review from mike k.
8/12/2010
Ok,I'm willing to admit maybe it was my own fault. I worked myself up for one hell of a tour... I mean,i had just did the Dells ghost tour, and it was pretty good...hell, this is Chicago! There should be spooky ghost shit on every block,right?
Well safe to say nearly 40 minutes into it I was bored if not almost asleep. The placesand stories they took us were....interesting at best ,but I figured this was all leading to some good stuff. But alas,no.This tour sucked....honestly sucked. It had some moments, but too much time was spent getting on and off the bus, save the getting off for the good stuff.
This tour could be muc h better if re-vamped and with better atmosphere and direction. Get into it, people! If ypou want to make money in Chicago, create your own ghosts tours for Chicago. The one in the Dells was corny,but it was at least interesting....come on,Chicago we deserve better! -
Review from Jenn H.
Chicago, IL
2/4/2008
Four of us went on the Shots of '29 Gangland Pub Crawl last Saturday. As other reviewers have noted, it's chock full of fascinating tidbits. Don't count on spotting any ghosts; if you want to be scared shitless, try picturing Della Reese naked.
We climbed aboard the trolley, poured our booze, and listened as our guide Dave regaled us with tales of days gone by in Chicago. We stopped at four bars. I must have had a good time because I can only remember the names of two of them...The Green Door and Richard's Bar, which is now my new favorite dive bar! I love the bartender! I want to know if he has a fedora collection from the 50's at home!
Our tour guide Dave was great...he drank with the group at each bar, told us some great stories, and is an all together cool guy!
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3/18/08
We went on the Chief O'Neill Memorial Pub Crawl on Saturday, March 15. It was fun--Dave was the guide again and he's awesome! But the crowd was a little different this time; young 20-somethings looking to get extremely wasted, some suburban moms in their camel toe jeans, and some people our age, in their 30's, who really didn't want to chat it up, even though we're all on a freakin' pub crawl getting a little happy. It's really the crowd that can make or break this. My advice: go on the off season (October - February). You are guaranteed a cooler crowd and no middle aged mom jeans in sight. On the last crawl, by the end of the night we were all sharing the booze that we brought on the bus. On this one, no one wanted to be sociable at all. Thank God there were 5 in my group...we made our own fun....fuck those dead asses!Listed in: Amuse Me
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Review from Jennifer C.
Washington, DC
3/7/2010
As a Chicago native armed with a Groupon, I thought this would be a kitschy way to see a different side of my city. I figured the tour could go two ways: it could either be genuinely spooky, or it would embrace the campiness of driving around on a black short bus telling ghost stories. The tour was neither: it was an abrupt circuit of just a few locations with crappy narration.
This was definitely worst tour guide I've ever had. Genius Orator he was not - he was an awful storyteller and was prone to using the word "literally" in every sentence. Yes, I understand that great disasters "literally" occurred causing fodder for ghost stories. It was an irritating speech habit that made everything the guide say patently ridiculous and not in the least compelling.
If we had gone anywhere remotely interesting, it might have made up for the bad tour guide - but we didn't. Sorry for my inability to believe a stretch of Wacker Drive is haunted.
I will say I had a blast, snickering out of control at how idiotic the storytelling was. I felt bad laughing AT rather than with the whole thing, but hey, I had to find entertainment out of the evening somehow.
Save yourself the money and go take a walk through the Loop. -
Review from Mika J.
Chicago, IL
7/16/2011
As locals, we thought it might be fun to explore our city's haunted underworld, plus I love a good historical tour so what did I have to loose? Little did I know. This tour was boring, uninspired, and lacked any significant historical value. The creepy-ist thing on the tour was the guide...he was rude, scummy (grease stained t-shirt & dirty shorts), with an endless supply of ho-hum stories and stale jokes. Yes, I'll take 2 hours of my life back please.
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Review from andrea k.
Chicago, IL
6/21/2010
Like another fellow Groupon lover, I bought this tour on discount for a friend and I. I read all the reviews before we took this tour last Friday so I was prepared for what to expect, which is that it is a historical tour more than anything else.
I appreciated how knowledgeable our tour guide is (his name has slipped my mind), and that he was able to provide us with lots of historical information on not just the events that had taken place but also what life was like during these time periods.
I also appreciated that we saw about 7 or 8 different sights along the tour. We only got off the bus for 3 or 4 at the most, which is fine b/c it's always an issue getting people back on board the bus in a timely fashion.
Our tour guide told us about their upcoming Resurrection Mary tour, and I'm pretty sure I'm signing up for this one as well. 4 hours on a coach bus learning all about Mary and sucking back some beverages at the same time. -
Review from Erin J.
10/8/2007
I've been on this tour twice and I enjoyed it both times, although my first trip was better. We went on one of the freaking coldest nights I have ever endured in early 2006. It was a good thing that they allow you to bring alcohol on the trip, because we were nipping just to keep warm!
It's a good tour - yeah, it does start out slow, but then you get to go to cool places like Death Alley and the site of the Eastland disaster, Hull House, etc. I got some freaky pics in Death Alley, the scariest of which the guide (Ken) shows on his website. LOTS of mist and orbs showed up on the film - even a couple faces, which was kind of disconcerting - if that sort of thing floats your boat.
I enjoyed it so much that I took a visiting friend on the tour for my second time. Not as cool and novel as the first, but still enjoyable nonetheless. -
Review from Kristen M.
Lisle, IL
9/27/2008
DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME AND EFFORT
I contacted this tour company in the beginning of September. I requested four reservations for a specific time and date in October:
-I first tried to reserve spaces online; that portion of their site was down
-Then, I tried calling the number provided to leave a message. The voicemail box was full.
-Third, I emailed the contact person, Ursula.
She got back to me a week later. I asked her if we could reserve 4 spots for the 10/13 tour at 7pm. This was her "response":
"Yes, that tour is available."
Um, ok?
So I replied with my credit card information, and asked her for a confirmation that our spaces would be reserved and another confirmation when my credit card was charged.
Didn't hear from her for about two weeks. So I sent a follow-up email. she responded that she DID NOT HAVE RECORD OF MY RESERVATION. I forwarded our previous correspondence. This is now the end of September. She responded that the specific tour we wanted was not fully booked. She recommended I check the website, because they would soon have more tour dates posted.
To sum up: they are disorganized, unprofessional, and now I have two weeks to set up another tour with another company. I had heard good things about the tour itself, so I really wish I could have experienced it. Unfortunately, I don't want to do business with them. -
Review from eric s.
Chicago, IL
1/9/2008
What an awesome way to tour Chicago! The gf and I went on All Saints Day. We took plenty of pics but unfortunately caught no ghosts. Will definitely return to check out their other specialized tours, like the Southwest Side/Archer Ave. tour.
PS
Friends who have worked at the Oriental Theater confirm that it's haunted! -
Review from Chrissy N.
Chicago, IL
4/15/2010
Let me preface by saying Chicago History thrills me. I was looking forward to this fun tour so much, and thanks to the Groupon, 4 friends and I went on a March Saturday.
Well, we got on the bus and 40 minutes after a looooooong story, we were released to get out and look at the spot for 10 minutes. Then We sat through another 40 minute story we were allowed to pop off the bus for a 10 minute look. By this time, there were so many diesel fumes in the rickety old bus, some of us were light headed.
We ended the tour at a third spot, same thing. But when the driver started talking about a "devil baby who could speak in tongues and had hooves for hands" we started giggling. Funny stuff. The driver got really annoyed really fast and reprimanded two of us. Oiy. Finally, the tour gets enjoyable, and that's doused.
We wanted to just ditch the tour at this point, but we were of the main drag. I love historical stories, I love the mystery and suspicion the tour offers, but it was such a snoozer.
In talking with friends, apparently there's another tour that is a bit more energetic, and hits about 10 spots. This 3 hour ( yes, 3 hours, only 3 stops) tour that I took should've been 40 minutes- WITH all the good details of the stories.
I won't recommend this tour, but will recommend they shorten the stories and add stops. Bonus- you can BYOB on this tour. Dang- THAT would've helped a little. -
Review from Justin W.
Chicago, IL
10/18/2010
As a child my family was really into ghost stories... the real ones... we would read them all and then go scouting on our own hunts for haunts. MANY times I was too chicken to even leave the car. I was the big scaredy-pants so I was nervous to take this tour.
I didn't get as scared as I thought, but then again I think it's different when you're in a group of people vs just you and a few others. More than the frights.. I really enjoyed the history. I have lived here for about 5 yrs and I'm still learning new things. I learned A LOT of this tour! Our guide Tommy was knowledgeable and friendly and he had a sense of humor. We got off the bus at the FORD (former Iriqouis Theater), Hull House, River Walk (on upper Wacker), and I think one other place. The guide kept everything on time and we were able to take photos and ask questions.
While it wasn't as spooky as I'd expected, it was much more informational than I thought. Also, our tour was initially cancelled and rebooked due to overbooking (it happens) and they handled everything really professionally and ensured that we were treated well and that we enjoyed ourselves.
In all, I suggest going if for no other reason than the history lesson. Now I can go watch hour movies that are Chicago Inspired (Rosemary's Baby)... and know that I've been there! -
Review from Heidi S.
Lincoln, IL
7/7/2011
I took this tour without any knowledge of Chicago's spirited past. A friend who is interested in the paranormal suggested we take it, and reminded me to keep an open mind. I am so glad I did! We took the 7 hour ghost tour in November and had a blast!
Ever the skeptic, I was still fascinated by the ghostly historical landmarks and the tragic stories that unfolded in each location. Our tour guide took so much time to answer everyone's questions; Ursula is a lovely, patient person.
I had no expectations. I knew it to be a historical ghost tour and nothing else. If you don't enjoy history, specifically Chicago history, then find something else to do. (Our city parks are amazing!) But if you want to hear chilling stories while you see graveyards, old hotels, pubs, and mansions, this tour is for you!
As dusk approached, our group became more animated. We stopped at a place named "Irish Legend Pub" to have a hot drink and take pictures. I was really interested in some of the great original architecture and stained glass, so I took many photos with my upper middle class digital camera. :)
My camera was pretty accurate, so I was surprised to find, on the LCD, that every single picture was really blurry! Hmmmm...it was working just fine before!
If you can't beat 'em......Sheepishly, I glanced around to make sure no other guests were observing me. I asked, out loud, to real or imagined entities, "May I take a picture?" Guess what? The rest of the photos were clear as a bell!
At the end of our journey, Ursula told us some stories of an abandoned cemetery that had been neglected for years. She doubted it would still be accessible because of more stringent laws recently enacted to combat graveyard vandalism.
She conceded, albeit somewhat reluctantly, to give it a go. (It was a near mutiny, after all) We drove through the open gates to an empty, completely dark cemetery. Given that only a few had small flashlights, every step I took had to be watched carefully, lest I fall into a recently dug pit. (Yes, there was one.)
I wasn't scared. The cold November wind numbed my hands and made me turn back to the welcoming warmth of the tour bus. As I approached the bus, I stopped to observe some headstones clustered around a tree.
I still don't know why I stopped. But I'm glad I did. I saw three beautiful fireflies dart among the gravestones. My immediate thought was, "How pretty, those fireflies are so blue, and they just twinkled away." Then I remembered it was November. -
Review from Chris S.
Chicago, IL
11/6/2008
This tour is awesome if you're either a history nerd (check), into paranormal studies (check), or have a strong love for the city of Chicago (*eyeball's Chicago flag tattoo*... check).
When we took this tour last year, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Loads of local history tied together through ghost stories. Sure, the stories were primarily familiar ones that I'd heard before, but whatever, the tour guide's enthusiasm for telling them was well worth it.
The best part is that unlike the Richard Crowe ghost tour, they don't overly self promote their book. They actually don't even mention that Ursula Bielski has a book until the very end of the tour. Plus, they don't have copies with them, so they don't expect you to shell out cash at the end of the tour for a copy. Great job guys, seriously. -
Review from Lisa K.
Chicago, IL
6/27/2010
I went on this tour two weekends ago now and all I have to say is wow. It was such a snoozefest. I live in Chicago and like so many others purchased this tour through Groupon because I thought it would be an interesting way to learn new things about the city.
I spent most of the tour tuning out the drone of the insanely boring tour guide and instead thinking to myself, "Wow. Chicago is beautiful."
We stopped at the now empty site of the Valentine's Day Massacre and I thought "hm, it has been awhile since I've been to Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinders. I love that place!" Meanwhile, the tour guide was talking to a small group of people about the massacre and as we were on busy, busy Clark Street, I couldn't hear a word he was saying.
We stopped somewhere on Wacker to stare in the water and look for the souls of people that died when a boat "bigger than the Titanic" sunk. I spent that time staring longingly across the river at a happening party at Sweetwaters.
We stopped at the Couch Mausoleum just north of Lincoln Park and I thought about how cool it was that the kids attending Latin have a Mausoleum so close to their school. {Wow. I am a dork."
I snickered every time our tour guide told us that while we might be cynics we just needed to pay attention to the way the scenes of these travesties made our bodies feel.
I'm not going to lie - as a "hauntings" tour, this tour was an absolute joke. There was nothing even remotely ghost-like about this tour. Our tour ended up lasting 2.5 hours and we made about 8 stops so I definitely feel like I got my money worth AND I even learned a little bit of new history about Chicago.
But holy cow, when our tour guide told us about the demon baby with hooves at the Hull House... well, that was about it for me. I laughed out loud to the chagrin of the people I was on the tour with. The tour guide tried really hard but demon babies are just too much. -
Review from Annie T.
Chicago, IL
4/12/2010
Thanks to Groupon, I went on the Chicago Hauntings Ghost Tour this past Saturday night with a group of friends.
It was perfect weather for the tour... high 60s/low 70s at night. We got on the rinkity school bus and went our merry way around the city.
Despite living in this city for 4 years, I learned lots of new stories/facts about the city and it's history. Sure, there was some cheesiness/exaggeration but the content of the stories told is in the history books. We also spent most of the time off the bus. I think that was the best part. We really got to take it all in.
It was a spooooktacular time. I highly recommend you get a group of friends together, pack your flasks and head out on the tour yourself! -
Review from Alice c.
Chicago, IL
3/4/2008
dunno if it was my hangover from the nite before, or if it was that the tour guide Dave was hung over (he admitted this to us at the start of the tour) but the tour felt like a 3 hour lecture.
We were supposed to be on a tour that would go over some interesting stuff. I was not too interested in much that we were told. It seemed like everything is Chicago is built on an Indian burial ground or some other burial site and hence the spooks. We did not stop to drink or eat anywhere. We had a pee stop at the bowling alley next to the Hull house.
redeeming qualities: Bill the bus driver was awesome. I did get creeped out when we stopped at the Hull house.
Oddly enough, I am willing to give it another go and try out one of the more specialized tours. -
Review from Shannon B.
Seattle, WA
6/26/2009 1 photo
We took this tour over Memorial Day weekend, so it was a full house on the bus. Our tour guide was a kind, unassuming girl with gorgeous, beat-up, Victorian-era-looking button-up boots and a hole in the rear of her black pants. She seemed to know something about the topic, but unfortunately it did not really come across very well once the tour got rolling.
First stop was the theatre district where many, many people perished on the opening night of a show. Our guide gave us some great history on the details of the theatre and the fire, and guided us back to an alley where we were told that spots may appear on our photographs. She then went in to great detail about orbs, and other types of spots (forgive me, I love the historical aspect but am not into trying to "capture" paranormal activity so I don't know the nomenclature) that we might see on our photos, and I really lost interest and just wandered around the alley, thinking of what had happened here way back when and trying to picture it. As we were int he alley, another tour came along, Weird Chicago, I think, and their guide began telling the same story. Unfortunately for our guide, the Weird guide was much more interesting to listen to, a natural orator.
We visited about three locations in tandem with this other tour, when finally our guide decided to linger at one of the sites so that we would avoid the distraction of having two tours running right next to each other. Throughout the tour, the places we visited and the stories and history that was related to us was very interesting, but again I got the overall feeling that our guide just wasn't really all that into it.
I'm glad we took the tour, but this one really didn't measure up to ghost tours that we've taken in other cities. Good for the historical experience, though. -
Review from Renee H.
Colorado Springs, CO
Updated - 12/29/2009
The owner of this company did write me a nice letter explaining why my friends and I had such a "short tour". She did offer to let us take the tour again. This is a very nice gesture. I appreciated reading such a nice email from a company - most wouldn't care. My suggestion is to have more of a walking tour - and less bus ride. Also, the tour guide shouldn't tell people about the place he doesn't have time to take them to.
Thanks!1 Previous Review: Show all »
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9/7/2009
I have been on many ghost tours, some in small villages, some walking, some in the cities like LA… Read more »
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Review from Betsy V.
Chicago, IL
10/27/2011
This company is incredibly unprofessional. They do not hold up their end of promises, and have an ugly tone when speaking to their customers. I do not recommend anyone use.
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Review from Jessica B.
Chicago, IL
6/5/2011
Awful. I like to go on tours and was excited to try this one. I have been on a handful of ghost tours in other cities- Nashville, Sydney, London and this was a huge disappointment. The bus driver wasn't nice, the tourguide was boring and just blah. Not recommended.
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Review from The Chicago Critic X.
Lake County, IL
2/16/2010
Pretty boring tour. 3 hours of a story-teller on a microphone, in a short school bus driving by locations of history.
Like previous reviewers, you can find all this information online a lot cheaper.
There are no paranormal episodes or even any of the sites visited were the same as they were when the events occured.
After the hassle that was had with the initial purchase of tickets, it definitely made for an even worse adventure. -
Review from jon f.
Lincoln Park, IL
2/17/2010
I would like to reach out and say this tour was .......ok.
I reached out to Ursula about a month ago to see if she could help me work a tour around my 30th birthday.
I have collected her books for about 10 years now and love everyone of them. (highly suggested that you purchase one!).
She helped me get a private bus together for my 15-20 people I was able to get together.
She helped me with the logistics of where the bus was to drop us off.
For the most part she really helped with every little detail I had to put together.
She had written me about a week prior to say that our tour would be from 4-6:30. (that we were going to get another half hour of the tour).
The tour guide (not Ursula) had dropped us off at our last location 30 min early (so I didnt get the extra half hour that was discussed and we left past the past the start time of 4PM because of a few friends running late in Auto-Show traffic)
So the 2 hour and 30 min tour ended up being about an 1hour and 40 min.
The restaurant they dropped us off at had to scramble to get things set up because they had not expected us for another 30-40 more min.
My friends and I were consuming a few celebration beverages for my birthday and were a little excited during the bus tour, so I had tipped the tour guide up front and right away.
Reasons for the early tip to the guide:
1- because we were supposed to get an extra 30 min.
2- because it was to excuse the conjoined celebration in the back of the bus during the tour.
*point to remember, it was a private party so we were not disturbing anyone not in the party with our goofyness.
The tour started off wonderful and PLENTY of juicy details on murders and scandals at each location. The guide seemed to really knew his stuff about the urban legend's of each location.
But he had mentioned that he had captured pictures of ghosts on his camera from the places we stopped at in the past.......but he didnt have any pictures with him.....
So it was kind of hard to be convinced by him thereafter on most of the stories he was telling us.
I would suggest if they are going to claim to finding evidence at the locations the bus goes to....that they should have copies of the evidence with them to add to the "value" of the tour.
We had to stop at the 3rd location so we could all use the washroom and seemed to have been "holding up" the tour. (based on the expressions of the tour guide)
So PLEASE go to the washroom before getting on the bus!
Plus the bus shocks do not seem to work, so its not easy on the bladder....:)
Before we knew it we were on the way to our drop off location and many including myself felt as if we had missed a few places that the bus was supposed to go to.
I do intend on doing some of the other activities Ursula has to offer (bar crawls and overnighters).....she is very knowledgeable and a wonderful lady to do business with.
But I would say that this tour was not as spectacular as it is described to be.
This tour is for more of a leisurely fun activity to do on the weekends than for someone looking for "evidence" and the adrenalin rush of possibly seeing a ghost.
(although we did get a TON of orbs in our pictures)
Everyone on the bus thought it was something wonderful to experience and a great idea to do for something "different". -
Review from Linda F.
Plano, TX
11/6/2011
I took this tour; it did not start out well when 2 parties (like a total of 8-10 people) decided not to continue & wanted their money back & sorta' made a scene with the guide. The guide was understandably annoyed, but he continued to jokingly bring up the complainers off & on a good part of the tour. I've been on other ghost tours in other cities. This one did not meet up to my expectations; many a missed opportunity to share more history & stories in a calm ghost telling manner, a little more drama, please; less drawing in the audience about your business problems with the complainers. The guide barely touched the surface of the stories he did tell. The ghosts of Chicago's got short-changed as well as the audience. The complainers that left the tour had the right idea.
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Review from Jeff F.
Joliet, IL
6/6/2008
I was quite worried when I saw the condition of the bus. I thought " oh no this is going to be terrible" but I was completely wrong! This was a fantastic way of seeing the "haunted" side of Chicago. Our guide was very knowledgeable and was able to answer everyones questions. Its quite an interesting tour and well worth the money.
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Review from Photo L.
Chicago, IL
Updated - 5/4/2010
So the owner wrote me a message explaining why it did not go well. She then offered to give me another chance to go again as well as a free autographed book to make up for the disappointing experience. It seemed very genuine and nice in the beginning. However, she made this offer in the middle of winter and advised me to wait till the weather gets a bit better. I contacted her in April to ask about going again on the tour. She told me how to go to the website to sign up for a night without paying (since it was being comped). I contacted a friend of mine who I knew would really enjoy this and asked her to go. Ursula had told me that I could bring a friend with me. So the two of us picked a date that worked for us both and I tried to get signed up through the website. It didn't work. So I messaged Ursula through Yelp and explained it wasn't working. She gave me an email address that I could email with the date and time I wanted. I tried to email that 4 times and it bounced back every time. So I messaged her again through yelp telling her this. She gave me their phone number and added I could email her (which indicated she did not really read my message, as it said that the email was bouncing back). Why couldn't I just sign up through the yelp email? Good question and I don't know. I called the number. Want to hear something shocking? Nobody answered. I left a message with my name, number and dates I wanted, as well as the name of the friend I was going to bring. Well somebody there was on the ball cause they called me back at lightning speed, 4 days later. They left a message, not telling me that I had been signed up for the dates I requested, but asking me to call back to sign up and to indicate what dates I wanted. So I called back, got the answering machine again. I left another message, this was almost two weeks ago now, and nobody has called me back. The date we wanted to go has come and gone. So here is my theory. Ursula offered me the free tour hoping that would be enough for me to revise my initial yelp that wasn't very good, truthful, but not praising them in anyway. Well, me being the wacky girl that I am, was planning on waiting until after my second tour, and then giving an honest second review. Had it gone well, I would have said so. In the end, I went on one crappy tour that I paid $30 for, was offered a free one to make up for the terrible first one, and then found out the free offer was an empty promise.
So all in all, I would absolutely not recommend doing this!1 Previous Review: Show all »
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9/6/2009
I just finished going on this tour about an hour ago. It was boring, and did not last even remotely… Read more »
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